How to use Targeted Personalisation?

Every visitor who lands on your hotel website arrives with a distinct reason for their trip—a corporate conference, a family holiday, or a romantic weekend getaway. Targeted Personalisation lets your website automatically recognize those different motivations and adapt what each visitor sees. This turns your homepage from a generic booking page into a digital concierge that already knows what your guest came for.

Rather than showing a single broad message to everyone, you serve highly relevant imagery, tailored offers, and intent-driven calls to action to the right audience. That exact relevance is what drives digital engagement and direct bookings—visitors who see web content matching their immediate travel intent are far more likely to convert.

🔄 Part 1: The Personalisation Campaign Lifecycle

Deploying a personalisation campaign follows a structured lifecycle to ensure your live site configuration remains stable. The engine operates on a sandbox model: saving an entry only stages your draft updates inside a secure preview database, requiring an explicit publish action to push configurations live to production.

The personalisation framework relies on a simple three-part relationship:

Component	Definition	Hotelier Practical Example
Audience	A named visitor segment defined by matching real-time session parameters on page load. No personal data is stored.	Mobile Users, Visitors from Booking.com, US-based Corporate Guests.
Replacement Content	The alternative text, photography assets, or direct booking paths that dynamically overwrite the default layout.	Swapping a generic family layout for a corporate boardroom description and RFP button.
Priority	The hierarchical evaluation order that decides which rule wins if a guest qualifies for multiple segments at once.	Active email campaign traffic or partner links outranking broad geographic location rules.

 

🗺️ Part 2: Planning & Designing Audiences

Before clicking into the rule builder, map out who you want to target and rank them. When a visitor matches multiple audiences on the same content item, the replacement listed first (top of the list) wins — so decide your priority order now, most specific intent first, and you'll apply it later in the widget by dragging nested replacements into that order.

Strategy Blueprint: Target Audiences at a Glance

Use this matrix to map your commercial goals directly to the engine's rule logic.

Priority	Audience Segment	Shared Attribute	Engine Rule Logic
1	New site visitors	Visiting the website for the first time	New/Returning equals New
2	At reservation system	Have reached the booking engine	Delivered to Reservation System equals Yes
3	Social networks	Arriving via social links	Referring Website contains facebook.com
4	Mobile devices	Browsing on a smartphone	Device Type equals Mobile
5	International visitors	Browsing from outside the home country	Country equals [Foreign Country]
6	Campaign audiences	Arriving via a tracked promo link	Campaign equals [Campaign Code]
7	Return visitors	Have visited the website before	New/Returning equals Returning
8	Nearby mobile visitors	On mobile, near the property	Device Type equals Mobile AND City equals [City]
9	Repeat customers	Returning AND previously reached Reservation System	New/Returning equals Returning AND Delivered to Reservation System equals Yes
10	Abandoned reservations	Began a booking or RFP but didn't complete	Delivered to Reservation System equals Yes AND New/Returning equals Returning

 

Building Your Audience in the CMS

Path: Dashboard ➔ Website CMS ➔ [Select Language] ➔ Website ➔ Personalization

1. Click [ CREATE NEW AUDIENCE ].
2. In the Audience Name field, type a clear operational label (e.g., OTA Win-Backs).
3. Click [ QUICK SAVE ] to initialise the profile and reveal the rule engine workspace.
4. Click ADD RULE to append a blank numbered configuration panel.

 

 

Action Matrix

The 13 distinct rule types behave differently in the interface. Use this reference to navigate the sub-forms:

Input Category	Rule Types Covered	Interface Behaviour & Rules	Required Secondary Action
Multi-Value Lists	• Geography (Country/State/City) • Device Type • Language Locale • Referring Website • Campaign / URL Parameter • Cookie Value	Automatically swaps in text inputs or preset dropdown items in place based on your rule type selection.	Mandatory: You must click the contextual ADD [TYPE] button to stage individual entries into the panel list.
The Grid Anomaly	• Visited Pages	Renders a unique 3-column tracking display structured cleanly by Domain | Site | Page.	Mandatory: Select the target page from the site-tree dropdown and click ADD VISITED PAGE.
Geographic Distance	• Distance from Location	Evaluates radius perimeters between [] and [] miles using raw Latitude/Longitude center points.	None: Contains no inner value list. Configurations commit directly to the database when the main page is saved.
Binary Dropdowns	• New/Returning Status • Delivered to Booking Engine	Basic session status flags evaluating hardcoded browser states.	None: Operates purely via a single dropdown selection. Contains no operators and no secondary add buttons.

 

Combining Multiple Rules

An audience can hold more than one rule — click ADD RULE again to append another numbered panel.

Multiple rules combine with AND by default: the visitor must match all of them
(e.g. Device Type equals Mobile AND City equals [City]).

For OR or mixed logic, tick Use Custom Rule Logic and enter a boolean expression referencing the panel numbers, such as 1 AND (2 OR 3).

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🖥️ Part 3: Canvas Implementation & Booking Engine Deep Links

Once your audience rules are locked down, apply alternative visual elements directly to the layout components. Personalisation alters components within an existing widget (like replacing a button link or slide text), rather than altering the outer widget shell itself.

Step-by-Step Implementation Flow

1. In the visual Page Editor, hover over your target component and click Edit to open the item summary tree.
2. Find the specific slide, grid card, or feature item row you want to target.
3. Click Add Replacement on that item's row — this duplicates the item as a variant nested beneath it. The original stays as the fallback for all other visitors.
4. Click Edit on the new replacement to open it, then in the Personalization section at the top of the panel, click Select Audience and choose your audience.
5. Update your targeted text, images, and button paths inside the replacement.
6. Click Save on the item panel, then Save on the master widget form to stage your changes.

 

Streamlining Checkout with Booking Engine Deep Links

To secure maximum direct revenue, your call-to-action buttons should utilise query strings to bypass generic search calendars and pull up specific rates instantly. Add your custom strings directly inside a button’s Include URL Parameters field.

Use these parameters to construct high-conversion checkout paths:

• ?price_group= Restricts visible engine results to display only a specific promotional package, private tier, or discounted corporate ID code.
• ?date_in= Pre-populates the exact arrival calendar date using the format YYYY-MM-DD.
• &nn= Mandates the exact number of nights for the reservation. Always append this when using fixed dates to stabilise mobile calculations.
• &adults= Dictates the total adult occupant allocation for the engine search.
• &vgo=1 (Variation Go) Forces the reservation engine to automatically expand nested room specifications and package rate descriptions on load.
• &kd=y (Keep Date) Instructs the server to lock your defined campaign calendar dates and prevents the engine from overwriting them with default dates.

 

 

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🧪 Part 4: Testing, Visual Validation, and Going Live

The visual page canvas always displays default content blocks, so you must use the platform's simulator setup to audit your personalisation before launching it publicly.

Step 1: The Test Personalisation Simulator

This tool simulates specific visitor behaviours without requiring you to switch devices or testing hardware.

Path: Page Editor ➔ Website ➔ Personalization ➔ [ TEST PERSONALIZATION ]

1. Set the testing environment dropdown to Preview Website to check your staged edits safely inside the sandbox.
2. Select your target Page node where the personalised widget lives (typically Home).
3. Populate only the specific configuration inputs that match your audience rules. Clear out and leave empty any fields that are not part of your audience logic, or the test will fail.
4. Click the internal [ Test Personalization ] button at the base of the setup form. The simulator builds your testing framework automatically—never attempt to hand-craft geography query objects manually. Review the new tab to confirm your variations render perfectly.

Step 2: Validating Viewports with Mobile QR Codes

The Test Personalisation simulator does not render native responsive viewport shifts. To check device-targeted rules or audit your mobile text layouts, use the Page Editor toolbar:

1. Inside the visual Page Editor, locate the responsive configuration bar at the top of the workspace.
2. Switch the Size dropdown selection from Desktop to Mobile (360 × 640).
3. Click the Get Mobile QR Code button located on the upper right workspace bar.
4. Scan the barcode directly with your mobile device’s camera to evaluate row text layouts, image crops, and button sizes on a real screen.

Step 3: Executing the Live Publish Action

Once your sandbox preview testing passes, you are ready to compile your updates to production.

1. Click Publish on the main toolbar.
2. Review the Website History log. If a yellow indicator appears showing uncommitted team drafts, check the Confirmed clearance box and click Continue.
3. Click [ PREVIEW WEBSITE ] as a final compiled site check.
4. Click [ PUBLISH WEBSITE ] (or use PUBLISH MULTIPLE WEBSITES to push updates across group portfolios simultaneously).
5. Clear CDN Caches: If your live site continues to display old fallback text due to local edge-routing memories, return to your Publish panel and click Purge Normal within the CDN control centre to force all nodes to pull fresh content.

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💡 Part 5: Proven Hotelier Campaign Case Studies

Use these six proven strategies to deploy targeted campaigns across your property's directories.

Case Study 1: Partner Referral Win-Backs

• Operational Goal: Intercept incoming traffic clicking through from high-profile digital publications (e.g., Condé Nast Traveler) or OTAs with an exclusive direct-booking rate.
• Audience Rule Configuration: Set Referring Website contains cntraveler.com.
• Widget Execution Blueprint: Deploy a premium Modal Popup 1.0 at the top of your homepage. Set the window trigger to Time Delay with a desktop/mobile threshold of 3 or 5 seconds. Under the item settings, apply your audience, add warm welcoming copy, and inject an advanced deep link parameter (?price_group=REF_WINBACK&vgo=1) directly into the action button.

Case Study 2: Event & Festival Traffic Optimization

• Operational Goal: Capturing high-intent race, concert, or festival traffic by automatically prioritising partner packages the second a user arrives from an event site.
• Audience Rule Configuration: Set Referring Website contains galwayraces.com.
• Widget Execution Blueprint: Hover over your homepage Single CTA Carousel with Horizontal Content 1.0. Select your very first slide slot, click Add Replacement, link your event audience, and update the layout with relevant festival imagery, package descriptions, and a direct checkout link.

Case Study 3: Multi-Property Group Site Affinity

• Operational Goal: Drastically lower reservation friction on multi-hotel portal sites by reorganising your hotel catalog layouts based on a returning user’s previous browsing history.
• Audience Rule Configuration: Build separate audiences for each sister property using Visited Pages equals [Select Property Sub-Page].
• Widget Execution Blueprint: Edit your group homepage CTA Grid Carousel 1.0. Select the individual hotel card item, click Add Replacement, link the corresponding affinity audience, and rewrite the CTA text to a direct re-booking prompt ("Book Your Return to [Hotel Name]") pointing directly to that property's specific booking engine link.

Case Study 4: Country-Targeted Geolocation Focus

• Operational Goal: Serve tailored visual assets, custom text variables, and dedicated currencies to long-haul geographic markets without using hard, SEO-damaging URL redirects.
• Audience Rule Configuration: Set Country equals United States.
• Widget Execution Blueprint: Locate the high-visibility Introduction 1.0 editorial text components across your core landing pages (Home, Rooms, Dining). Open the nested intro repeater elements, add your US Visitor replacement variant, and append your US market rate parameters (?price_group=US_OFFER&kd=y) to the primary links to bypass standard rates.

Case Study 5: MICE Behavioural Retargeting Upsells

• Operational Goal: Capture high-value corporate group leads by dynamically shifting your primary real estate to show conference setups and RFP links to users who previously browsed your event space pages.
• Audience Rule Configuration: Set Visited Pages equals [Select Corporate Events/Meetings Page].
• Widget Execution Blueprint: Orchestrate this campaign across two separate widgets simultaneously. First, open your homepage Hero Carousel 1.0 and replace your primary slide with corporate boardroom imagery, delegate text, and an RFP group link. Second, open your Feature List 1.0 and swap standard leisure amenities for professional configurations detailing custom room layouts and theatre/boardroom delegate capacities.

Case Study 6: Mobile-Exclusive Flash Promotions

• Operational Goal: Capture last-minute mobile bookers by deploying highly visible mobile-only incentives across your layout.
• Audience Rule Configuration: Set Device Type equals Mobile (ensure you click ADD DEVICE TYPE to pin the value).
• Widget Execution Blueprint: Run this strategy using two synchronised methods. Use Method A to add an audience replacement inside your existing homepage CTA Carousel 1.0 cards to swap out a single tile for mobile rates. For completely unique layout structures, use Method B: place an independent layout component onto your canvas, open its settings panel, and type exactly visible-xs visible-sm inside the Optional Class field. This instantly hides the entire layout container from desktop viewports using native stylesheet display parameters.

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📋 Pre-Publishing Strategy Checklist

Before pushing your personalisation edits live to your production server, run through this quick quality audit:

• [ ] Language Check: Are you working inside the correct language-specific instance path? Remember that saving updates on an English path will not modify translated pages.
• [ ] The Rule Pinning Rule: Have you clicked the secondary contextual ADD action button inside your audience rule forms to fully attach your criteria values to the logic stack?
• [ ] The Deep Link Syntax Hook: Do all of your custom call-to-action parameter configurations strictly begin with a leading question mark (?)?
• [ ] Focal Point Check: Have you used the Select Focal Points tool on all updated image assets to verify they crop cleanly across mobile viewports?
• [ ] Sandbox & QR Validation: Have your variations been run through the Test Personalization simulator error-free, and have your mobile layouts been scanned via QR code before publishing?
• [ ] The Incognito Negative Check: After publishing, open the live site in a private/incognito window (no simulator) — a visitor who matches none of your audiences must still see the original default content.